Chicago is failing to take care of its neediest citizens

There are two men who sit on Michigan Avenue who are incredibly sick. Their legs have swollen to the size of tree trunks, and there are chunks of flesh missing, like someone took an ice cream scooper to their muscles. Their legs weep puss and blood, exposed to whoever passes by. I don’t know a thing about either man, except that they are humans and clearly in pain, crying openly on one of Chicago’s busiest streets.

I gave one man what little money I had Tuesday and had the thought, “I hope he buys drugs to kill the pain, because this isn’t enough to help his legs.”

I was appalled at my own thoughts. Where else in the world do humans suffer openly and without access to actual help? Then, I remembered where I’ve seen this before. In college, I studied abroad in India. While a beautiful country, it’s also a developing nation. I saw people with physical diseases openly begging on streets of Mumbai. I remember a man covered head to toe in giant bulb-like cysts, begging at each car window. It was heartbreaking and overwhelming to witness suffering at this level and to know help was not on the way and probably never would be. And, I remember feeling so blessed I lived in a “developed” country with access to trained doctors and medicine for all. I was naive.

Here we are. In middle America. Two men in desperate need of serious medical treatment that they clearly aren’t getting. Any other developed nation would have medical facilities freely available to treat these men’s pain. Any developed nation would be able to give these men a chance to survive.

Whatever their personal stories, they deserve to get their infections treated and limbs mended. I don’t have the resources or knowledge to help, but my heart is broken. Maybe one of your readers has resources to offer. I can’t understate the critical state these men are in. Without help, it’s unlikely they will survive, let alone ever lead productive lives.